Scandal-hit Republican George Santos denies he was a drag queen – but admits to dressing as a woman
George Santos has responded to photos which appear to show him dressed as a drag queen in Brazil, saying that he was “young” and having “fun at a festival”. (Alejandra Villa Loarca/Newsday RM/Getty Images)
Republican congressman George Santos has admitted to dressing up as a woman for “fun at a festival” two days after slamming claims that he was a drag queen as “categorically false”.
In a clip filmed by TMZ, Santos admitted to dressing in drag, but insisted he wasn’t a drag queen.
He said: “I was not a drag queen. I was young and had fun at a festival.”
It follows Santos denying the “outrageous claims”, which were made by drag queen Eula Rochard, on Thursday (19 January).
The allegations cropped up after alleged images of Santos were shared by journalist Marisa Kabas the day after she had spoke with Rochard, who claims she was friends with Santos while he was living near Rio de Janeiro.
The 2008 photo depicts Santos, known at the time by his middle-name Anthony, in a drag costume under the moniker Kitara Ravache.
Rochard confirmed the photo in question was from a drag show at Icaraí Beach. But Santos took to Twitter to claim the accusation was “categorically false”.
He wrote: “The most recent obsession from the media claiming that I am a drag Queen or ‘performed’ as a drag Queen is categorically false.
“The media continues to make outrageous claims about my life while I am working to deliver results.
“I will not be distracted nor fazed by this.”
However, the scandal-hit congressman was caught out by a TMZ reporter who questioned the allegation, and he admitted to dressing up as a woman because he was young and “had fun at a festival”.
This isn’t the first allegation Santos has been forced to deny as a Navy veteran accused him of pocketing thousands of dollars raised in a GoFundMe for his dying dog.
It comes after a media investigation raised questions about a number of claims he made, resulting in Santos being forced to admit he “embellished” his education and employment history on his resume.
He told the New York Post that his “sins” are “embellishing [his] resume”.
Santos admitted he didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning or work directly for either Goldman Sachs or Citigroup. He also said he “never claimed to be Jewish” but instead said he was “Jew-ish”.
An investigation into Santos’ various lies was opened on 28 December by district attorney Anne Donnelly, who said she wished to examine whether he had broken any campaign finance rules during his candidacy.
The openly gay politician is now under growing pressure to resign.
So far he has ignored calls to quit, but slipped up and indicated that he would resign if 142,000 people asked him to.
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